Maargazhi Concerts - 2011

Finally.......So here goes ........September 2011, I took an assignment with AME, a Clean Energy Power Generation firm based in Chennai.........and so we shifted to Chennai...back to that magical land that had been my home throughout my education, college, first job......... We landed and are currently put up in West Mambalam...

Come December 2011, the margazhi season at delhi beckoned and this time, turned out to be better than last year...... 3 concerts....

1. "Sundara Kaandam" - Sri Vaikuntanathaswamy Temple, Srirangam Srimad Andavan Asramam Ber Serai, New Delhi

2. " Krishna Leela" - Sri Subha Siddhi Vinayagar Temple, Mayur Vihar Delhi

3. "Rukmini Parinayam" - Vedic Culture Centre , Sri Ram Mandir , Lodhi Road, New Delhi.

Kshama :

Well i can think of only one word.......sorry, its again been a really long time.......but yes lot of changes, a new job, came back to chennai and now again its december.

Will keep posting regularly hereon.

Anil

3 days of Bliss

July 1 2011 -
We set off by bus to Thanjavur and from thereon by jeep to Konerirajapuram, our ancestral home (actually the birth place of appa and amma's native -thereby a double connection). A small village housing the Cauvery and our ancestral temple, Sri Lakshminarayana Swamy Koil.

The occassion - The Sathabhishekam of our Grandfather Sri Soundararajan (Soundra Thatha) on 4th July. Preceding the sathabhishekam was the first ever Kalyanotsavam in the history of the Temple on 3rd and on 2nd we had the Stapana Tirumanjanam and in evening a sangeetha upanyasam on "Rukmini Parinayam" performed by me :-)

I was accompanied on the Violin by Sri Raghuraman and on the Mridangam by Sri Venkata. This was a very special kalakshepam for me as i had done my arangetram here and reminensces of my first upanyasam were flowing in. Appa was there with us at that time (he's there even now, in spirit) and at 6PM we started.......it was a wonderful kalakshepam and thanks to the blessings of the almighty and acharyas, there were many revelations too......

The second day - 3rd July 2011 - The Kalyanotsavam..........that's the next post

Long time !!!

It has been really long since have posted in the blog, almost six months. Quite eventful they were,and just providing a recap of all that happened since December 2010.

December 2010 saw the start of a series of Kathakalakshepam concerts in Delhi. The first one was at a Vinayagar (Ganesh) temple in Mayur Vihar on 19th December 2010-The topic was "Sundarakaandam" and its application in daily life.

 The second programme was on 21st December 2010 at a small but lovely Krishna Temple - Venugopalaswamy temple in Alaknanda the topic being Sri Krishna Leela with a focus on the Bala Leela or the Childhood pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna.

The Third concert was at the famous Sri Uttara Guruvayurappan Temple in Mayur Vihar on 23rd December 2010 on Krishna Leela again.

Am currently uploading the videos in youtube and will post the links soon !!

Amidst this , we also had an opportunity for an impromptu pravachan at the residence of Mr Srinivasamurthy, a devotee and a friend of my aunt (who had organized these concerts). The topic chosen there was "Ganga Avataranam" (The descent of Ganga).This was recorded and produced into a CD.

Soon after this we travelled to Kadayanallur (near Madurai) wherein we performed in the "Akhanda Nama Sankeerthana Mela" and the topic being Sundara Kaandam again.

Thus ended the December trip. It was in itself a wonderful experience to meet many learned vidwans and scholars who have kept this amazing tradition of harikatha alive throughout the years. (It also reiterated the words that Guruji had told when we met him in Vellore prior to leaving. He had said that there will be many opportunities coming my way to perform and i must keep this going. At that time we had only 3 concerts fixed. By the time we reached Delhi 3 became 5!)

After this on 26th Jan 2011, had another performance at the Hosur Sathsangam on the importance of Sathsangam in todays life. It was the frst full fledged pravachan (non musical discourse) and went off really well.

Subsequent to these events, occured my meeting with N Viraraghavachariar Swamy / Pattanna Swamy. A very close friend of my father, when we went to meet him, I had taken a copy of the DVD recorded at Delhi (Krishna Leela) and amma played it for him. He sat through 30 minutes of the upanyasam and his comments were so encouraging and heartening. The Vaishnavite Guru Paramparyathanian's modification that i had done (including Guruji's name) was noticed by him and he told me that i could chant it the original way and even the original included all the Sathguru's till date. A really heartening moment, thanks to the Grace of Guruji!

Then came April 2010 and began the first event in the series of many (hope so!) - Sri Ramakathamritham. More details on this and the Kathamritham series in www.ramakathamritham.blogspot.com

And as i conclude this post, take great pleasure in inviting you all to the next upanyasam - Rukmini Parinayam @ Sri Lakshminarayanaswamy Temple, Thanjavur on July 2 2011. All are welcome

परितः ईक्षते इति परीक्षितः (Continued)

"Hence you may reside in five areas where adharma is rampant -Gambling, Wine, Company of Women, Violence and Gold."


Even as Parikshit said this, Kali dissappeared. He had jumped from where he was standing and lodged himself in a small ball of gold. This gold ball was connected to a ruby. The ruby was connected through exquisite golden artwork to various other precious stones and was adorning ...................

...........................the head of Parikshit.....

As kali lodged himself in the crown of parikshit. Parikshit searching for Kali made his way forward.


(To be continued)

Work !!

Finally, a proof of some "work" i did at our plant, painting the layout lines, here you go

An amazing piece of art

Check out this Rangoli by Mr M Mayil, one of our colleagues at Terex, Hosur

He has an amazing sense of art and can be contacted in case you want rangoli to be done at your end. In case you want to contact him for mayil.manickam@terex.com (9944619006)

How easy it would be !!!

Saw this pic and was floored. how easy it would be for all of us if this was possible....

परितः ईक्षते इति परीक्षितः (Continued)

Seeing Kali fall at his feet, parikshit stopped. . .

Kali got up and said " This is kali yuga. It is my dharma that i should be present here to make people understand the value of dharma. It is only through adharma that we understand the value of dharma. It is only through pain and suffering that we understand the value of health. It is only through harsh words that we understand the value of kindness. Hence please provide me places to stay"

To this parikshit replied " You cannot stay here as this place is my kingdom where dharma and righteousness are rampant. You can stay only at places which are bereft of dharma, which influence people to resort to Adharma. Hence you may reside in five areas where adharma is rampant -Gambling, Wine, Company of Women, Violence and Gold."

After this , Kali captured Parikshit................How.................thats another story. Lets see it next friday.

Anil

Wow ! 50 posts completed

It all started with bawandinesh.blogspot.com. This kind of introduced me to the world of blogging. today it has become bawandinesh.name one of the most popular websites/blogs in india, nay the world. Along with that in my own miniscule way i celebrate completing 50+ posts. (Really stupid.... i should be writing this as my 50th post, but was lazy enough only to recognise this "milestone" after seeing my 53rd post)

So here goes..........

Anil......................